“The Mountains, The Rocks, The Oil and Gas”

Second Edition, May 2007

Compilation and Photography by W.G. (Bill) Ayrton

THE MOUNTAINS, THE ROCKS

Available from; The Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists,
#600, 640 8th Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tel. (403) 264-5610

Credit; First edition of this poster donated

by the Canadian Oilmen’s Executive Association -
53rd Oilmens’ Island Explorers, 2003.

© Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists,

2007, all rights reserved

THE OIL & GAS

www.cspg.org

We’ve been pushed around Fossil hunting
The theory of ‘plate tectonics’ explains that the crust of the There has been life on Earth for billions of years.
Earth is made up of a series of solid, moving rock plates. Over Animals and plants live and die and their remains are
millions of years of geologic time, our North American plate has often buried and preserved as fossils. Thousands of
drifted from south of the equator and rotated into it’s present species have been identified by paleontologists, and
position, and has split away from the continents of Europe and their study tells a fascinating story of the evolution
Africa. (See maps below) of life over time, as well as age-dating the rocks
and providing clues to the environment in which
At times, North America has been flooded and it has received
these creatures lived for example, on land or at the
great thicknesses of sedimentary deposits. It has seen both
shoreline in warm or in shallow water, etc. Plants are
extreme climate changes and periods of dramatic mountain
compressed and are now preserved as coals, and
building; all resulting in a great variety of very different rock
MILLION YEARS
WHat is a stratigraphic column? Every rock tells a story
Over millions of years of geologic time, great thicknesses of
soft sediments were deposited and subsequently buried, and
eventually compacted into the stratified layers of rock that
we see in the mountains and in our wells today. Each layer is
unique and they are shown in the stratigraphic column below,
which shows in condensed form, the age, rock type (lithology),
names and thickness of each unit. The oldest rocks are at
the bottom and the youngest are on top; this is the way we
find them under the undeformed Plains area. However in the
mountains these layers are complexly folded and faulted and
To a geologist, the rocks we see in outcrop and the samples
we get from oil and gas wells tell us a fascinating story.
Like detectives, we figure out their mineral composition,
their age, how they were formed, and any changes that may
have occurred.
Some rocks are igneous, i.e. granites, basalts and some
are sedimentary (sandstones, limestones, shales) and are
the most interesting in the search for oil and gas. Some are
metamorphic, or rocks that have been changed by heat and
pressure, such as slates and marbles.
what use are they?
The rocks and mountains of Western Canada are an
incredibly valuable resource. They have many uses including
construction materials such as gravels, cement and
decorative stone and they provide industrial products like
oil, gas, sulphur, lime and gypsum. Their recreational and
educational opportunities abound, with our national parks,
skiing, hiking, rock climbing, hot springs and museums,
supporting a valuable tourist industry.
The changing landscape
Three very distinct geographic areas make up our changing
landscape, namely the Interior Plains, the Foothills and the
Rocky Mountains.
The Interior Plains comprise a flat, gently rolling grassland
topography, and the surface slowly gains elevation towards the
mountains. The Plains are underlain by layers of undeformed
rocks that are essentially flat-lying, and the deeper layers are
slightly inclined to the west, and are made up of a westward
thickening wedge of sediments.
The Foothills are characterized by tree-covered rolling

buried marine animal organic matter has generated often the stratigraphic succession is rearranged by mountain
types being formed (see diagrams on back side). We look for fossils, valuable minerals, organic material, 19 hills and valleys, and the underlying rocks are primarily
our oil and gas. building. The study of these layers is called ‘stratigraphy’.
The important rock units are given numbers - porosity (holes in the rock that could contain oil and gas), and Cretaceous in age. They are complexly thrust-faulted with
we map their aerial distribution and their structural attitude the more resistant sandstone layers being the ridge-formers
PERIOD

(folds and faults). at the surface.

THICKNESS
GROUP

(METRES)
ERA

Do you know that geologic time covers

billions of years and it is difficult to LIFE FORMS LITHOLOGY FORMATION West of the Foothills, the majestic wall of the Rocky Mountains
grasp its enormity? 19 is a spectacular feature, with jagged glaciated peaks and
valleys. The mountains are underlain by westwardly-inclined
However, earth scientists have been able to age-date thrust faults with the resistant carbonate rocks of Cambrian
SURFACE
TERTIARY

Humans evolve to Permian age forming high linear ridges. The valleys are
each event that occured during the history of the GLACIAL 19 underlain by more easily eroded Triassic to Cretaceous
Earth and have been able to place these events in the 1.8 DEPOSITS
sequence in which they occured. Glacial gravels like this streamlined drumlin at Morley, AB were formed Shales. Subsequent glaciation of this structurally complex
(see the Stratigraphic Column) 19 under the ice as it advanced from the mountains across the Foothills. area has sculpted one of the most strikingly beautiful areas
180 Surface gravel pits provide a valuable construction material.
of the world.
PASKAPOO 18 -
270
66 18
Pliocene – Pleistocene time geography 18
(5.5 to 0.1 million years ago) 19
Time of the ice ages when Canada was completely ice covered. The last
expansion of the polar ice sheets took place about 18,000 years ago. Woolly Mammoths roamed North Mammals
Humans evolved during this time. America during the ice ages. Skel-
eton at Tyrell Museum.
Mass Extinction. 50% ST. MARY
17 of all species, including RIVER
dinosaurs, disappear.

BRAZEAU
750
-
1200

71 BELLY 17 Cross-bedded Paskapoo Sandstone on the Big Hill above Cochrane.

RIVER The first consolidated rock layer that we drill through in Central Alberta. Calgary, located on the plains along the Bow River.
Triceratops Dinosaurs It was quarried locally as a building rock.
UPPER CRETACEOUS

17 ?
18
84
17
Do you know
Late Cretaceous geography which layers
(65 million years ago)
produce oil
The Rocky Mountains were formed in several pulses between 170 to The Paskapoo Sandstone provided the primary building stone for schools,
and gas?
40 million years ago (see back panel). North America drifted north and banks, churches and government buildings in Western Canada in the
pulled away from Europe and Africa. Location of Chicxulub meteor Look for the red boxes 450 early 1900’s.
impact site, caused global climate change and killed the dinosaurs and WAPIABI 16 -
many other forms of life at the Cretaceous / Tertiary (K/T) boundary – 66
with yellow letters: 600
17
ALBERTA

million years ago. Sandstone and shales deposited in Western Canada. these are some of our
best ‘reservoir’ rocks, 17
14 and they contain
90
large oil and gas Inclined shales and sandstones of the Belly River Group along the
MESOZOIC

30- TransCanada Highway west of Jumping Pound, mark the eastern edge Seven different terrace levels document the glacial melt run-off when the
traps under the Plains P CARDIUM 15 150 of the Foothills. Bow River was a much larger river.
and Foothills. The
letters define 5 major
Large Ammonite shells were 210
oil and gas fields, BLACKSTONE -
common in Cretaceous and
300 15 17
Jurassic time. Some developed an for example ‘J’ is
99
outer coating which is sold today as Jumping Pound Gas
Ammolite jewelry these fossils found Field, ‘P’ is Pembina
in the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Oil and Gas Field and
Formation. Ammonites have an
they produce out of
LOWER CRETACEOUS

intricate internal fabric of chambers. 600

the Rundle Group , BLAIRMORE -
or the Cardium (MANNVILLE) 810
Middle Jurassic geography Formation . (see
Tyrell Museum and its world famous collection of the dinosaurs that once
(175 million years ago) other side for field
121 The Cardium Formation sandstones and shales outcrop at Seebee roamed Western Canada in the Late Cretaceous, attracts visitor from all
The first signs of continental breakup and the Atlantic Ocean started as a diagrams). E Dam along the Bow River. over the world.
narrow opening separating Africa from Eastern North America.

CADOMIN
Hoodoos are common in the ‘badlands’ on the Plains.
16
Plant Fossils in Cretaceous
sandstones confirm the abundance
First Birds
KOOTENAY

144 of vegetation during this period. 17

Swamp conditions were present 90
as evidenced by the presence of 14 -
Ammonites 1020
JURASSIC

coal beds thoughout the section.

180

13
FERNIE

75-
208 180 Pebble Conglomerate of the Cadomin Formation is a mixture of many
First Mammals rock types; pebbles are well rounded indicating they were transported
WHITEHORSE
SPRAY RIVER

by water.
TRIASSIC

150
SULPHUR 13 -
Early Permian geography First coniferous 450
(265 million years ago) tree MOUNTAIN 14
Continents collide and Appalachian mountains formed. 99% of all life 245 Pelecypods similar to modern day The Lafarge Shale Quarry below Mount Yamnuska. Wapiabi Shale Ridge-forming resistant Cretaceous Sandstones form northwest trending
Mass Extnction 85% of
perished in a mass extinction at the end of Permian time. clams from the Triassic of Williston is trucked to the Lafarge cement plant to be used as an ingredient in low-lying hills in the Foothills.
PERM286 all species dissapear ISHBEL 30-75
Lake, BC. Portland cement.
PENN KANANASKIS 15-45
320 12 First Reptiles TUNNEL 9
180
First winged insects
MOUNTAIN 15
ETHERINGTON 33-87
6
17
MISSISSIPPIAN

The Jurassic Kootenay and Fernie Formations sandstones and shales

RUNDLE

160 outcrop at the Banff interchange. Coal was mined from this unit.
Crinoids J MT. HEAD -
210
12
Crinoids are a type of “Echinoderm”, 13 Mount Yamnuska represents the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains
once known as ‘sea-lillies’ because LIVINGSTONE 300
- where older limestones of the Cambrian Eldon Formations have been
of their plant-like form. Typically 360 thrust over younger Cretaceous sandstones and shales of the Belly River
the circular calcified ‘ossicles’
BANFF Formation along the McConnell Thrust Fault.
354 (segments of the stem) are found 11
Early Carboniferous geography in Mississippian age rocks. EXSHAW
(325 million years ago)
WABAMUN

Extensive coal swamps formed near the equator. First insects evolved TransAlta hydroelectric dam at Seebee is built on the resistant
12
225
320 million years ago. Thick limestones deposited in Western Canada. 9 C PALLISER 10 - Cardium Formation.
420 11
10
First Land Plants
DEVONIAN

ALEXO 90-108
Steeply dipping Triassic Spray River Formation siltstones, ‘Rundle Rock’,
365 outcrop at Bow Falls near the Banff Springs Hotel.
Corals NISKU 150
FAIRHOLME

SOUTHESK -
Sponges such as ‘Stromatoporoids’ 270
L
(above) that look like cabbages, 9
and ‘Amphipora’ (below) that look
IRETON LEDUC 12
like spaghetti, built the ancient Stromatoporoids CAIRN 150
reefs that have been prolific oil (Sponges)
SHALE REEF - 11
producers in Western Canada. 300
The jagged outline of Mount Rundle (2846 m), dominates the town of Can-
FLUME
PALEOZOIC

408
10 more where rocks of Mississippian age are thrust westwards along the
First Fishes
436
9 First Vertabrates
SKOKI 0-35 Rundle Thrust at the base of the mountain and is thrust over the folded
8
ORD

Canmore Coal Basin of younger Jurassic age.

Middle Devonian geography First Amphibians OUTRAM 0-210
495 SURVEY PEAK
(385 million years ago) Sulphur is a by-product of oil and gas production and is shipped to world
Coral reefs grew in shallow warm seas. The first fish appeared 436 markets from Western Canada.
million years ago and vertebrates 495 million years ago. Land plants
began to colonize the barren continents. Nautiloids
LYNX 450 12
Mount Rundle (2846 m), illustrates the classic ‘Rocky Mountain sandwich’
8 of Rundle / Banff / Palliser units. 9
Mass Extnction soft
bodied animals of the ARCTOMYS 15-60
Burgess Shale disapear 9
CAMBRIAN

PIKA 7 90
The spectacular mountain road to Spray Lakes climbs through Whiteman
Gap, the location of Grassi Lakes Devonian Reef section. The dominant
Tyndall limestone (Ordovician) Ha Ling Peak (2408 m) rises south of the gap.
quarried northeast of Winnipeg,
Brachiopods ELDON 6 360
is a popular building stone called
‘Manitoba Tapestry’ is used Jellyfish
extensively in buildings across
12
Shell Canada gas plant processes sour gas from the Foothills fields such
Canada, including the Parliament as Jumping Pound.
Early Cambrian geography building in Ottawa, the Winnipeg STEPHEN 5 60-90
(540 million years ago) Legislature and SAIT’s buildings
Animals with hard shells, such as trilobites, appeared in great numbers in Calgary. Note the coiled
for the first time. Maclurites snail fossil. Devonian Cairn Formation at Grassi Lakes, Canmore is an ancient
reef. Oil was discovered at Leduc, Alberta in 1947 in similar rocks, and
CATHEDRAL 4 300
started the oil-boom which continues today.
Tribolites
5 10
7 Vertical beds of the Mississippian age rocks form the jagged peaks of the
MT. WHYTE 3 150
6 Sawback Range of Banff National Park.

5
4 12
GOG 2 360 3
11
2
Trilobites were the first animal to
570
secrete a hard shell. Found in the 1 The Lafarge cement plant at Exshaw uses quarried Devonian Palliser 10
Burgess Shale located above Field, limestone (beside the plant) and Cretaceous Wapiabi shale from below
Maps above reproduced from Hitchon, B. Mount Yamnuska.
CAMBRIAN

BC, a World Heritage Site which is Stromatolites

“Alberta Beneath Our Feet,” the stratigraphic equivalent of the
MIETTE 1 Layered Cambrian limestones and shales at Castle Mountain repre- Cascade Mountain illustrates the classic “Rocky Mountain Sandwich” of
PRE-

geosci@telusplanet.net Stephen Shale in Alberta. sent some of the oldest rocks in the Banff area. Rundle/Banff/Palliser units.
800
GRANITE
BASEMENT
5
The Earth is believed to have been formed 4.6 billion years ago. 13
Do you know how old the Earth is? Rocks dated between 570 million years and 4.6 billion years are
called PreCambrian.

The Walcott Quarry at the Burgess Shale World Heritage site above Field, Ordovician limestones of the Tyndall formation and ‘Rundle Rock’ (Triassic Castle Mountain, Banff National Park. Flat-lying layer-cake stratigraphy
B.C.: famous for fossils of strange soft-bodied animals and trilobites. Spray River Formation) are used in the lobby of the Banff Springs Hotel. riding eastward on the Castle Mountain Thrust.

wESt MOUNT YAMNUSKA EaSt

FOSSIL FUELS CLASTIC ROCKS CARBONATE ROCKS OTHER ROCKS SYMBOLS
LEGEND:

Slot 10
Quarries 9 Oil Conglomerate Limestone Salts Unconformity
ian .
Sandstone lafarge
Quarry Shale Pit 15 Gas Sandstone Dolomite Metasedimentary Clastics Thrust Fault
von fm
De hesk
ut n 6 Seebe
Water Shale & Siltstone Reef PreCambrian Crystalline Basement, Granite Formation Boundary
So vonia . ria
n Cambrian Dam
m Eldon fm.
De irn f amb fm.
Coal
bow
Ca C on rust
Eld ll th upper Cretaceous river The imposing grey cliffs of the Front Ranges of the Rockies tower above the Foothills and
ne
C on belly river & wapiabi fms. 17
Important rock units in the sedimentary basin. Also shown on Important oil and gas producing horizons and fields
mc greet visitors along the TransCanada Highway. Mount Yamnuska is in center foreground.
mf
m. 1 - 19 photos and diagrams to designate their stratigraphic position P (e.g. Pembina Oil Field)
diu
Car
 It took a billion years to form the western canadian sedimentary basin, The Rocky Mountains were pushed from the west!
And it occurred in 4 stages.
13
E T
SY Pre-Push
MOUNTAIN
1
C KY . C .
RO B E RTA 530 - 170 M.Y. ago. No Rocky Mountains yet! Sediments deposited in warm seas on the
2.SEDIMENTATION NO ALB WARM E NTAL
1.EROSION underlying PreCambrian Crystalline Basement are predominantly carbonates (limestones
E A and dolomites, including reefs) and shales. They make up the Cratonic Platform.
C ONTIN
S
Cambrian to Mid-Jurassic sediments The ancient billion year old
LD F F
(570 to 180 million years old) were 13 FIE AN Precambrian crystalline basement has
13
B AR
Y ON been eroded to an almost flat surface,
deposited in a warm continental sea, LG O NT
CA DM and then depressed below sea level.
into a slowly subsiding sedimentary E #1 14
basin. Push
1
This resulted in a westward 1
thickening sequence of basal N
E RTA.
AT
OO 170 - 130 M.Y. ago. Moutain building began with the first ‘big push’ from the west, the ‘Laramide
sandstones - eroded from the
ALB A S K A S K Orogeny 1’. The oceanic plate to the west collided with the wedge of the undeformed sediments
underlying crystalline basement S S
on the cratonic platform. Imagine a bulldozer pushing and compressing the sediments until
overlain by carbonates (limestones 4.GLACIATION they broke into sheets along enormous thrust faults.
and dolomites) and salts.
A final stage in the last 2 million years
Much of Western Canada’s oil and gas has been the sculpting and gouging 17
is found in ancient Devonian reefs
and in Mississippian carbonates.
of the Rocky Mountains by ice. 13
Did you know 14
The magnificent mountain scenery
There were no Rocky Mountains yet! s that the Rocky
ge of the Banff area is a combination
an
nR es
ter ng of both the underlying geological Mountains
We
s nR
a #2
Ma
i structure and the subsequent erosion have not sh
3.MOUNTAIN BUILDING Pu
by ice and rivers. always been 1 100 M.Y. ago. The second ‘big push’ from the west, the ‘Laramide Orogeny II’ occurred. Thrust
n ge
s
here? faults shoved like a ‘stack of shingles’ and the entire mass moved eastward as much as
Starting approximately 170 million years ago, the North Ra 250 km. Older, deeper rocks, were placed on top of younger shallower rocks. Clastics were
nt The Oilsands at
Fro lls deposited in the Foreland Basin.
American continent moved westward as the Atlantic Ocean i Fort McMurray
oth
opened and collided with Pacific crustal plates. Fo Rather, we believe the
rocks that comprise ROCKY MOUNTAINS
This collision caused compression where sheets of previously
the Rocky Mountains

Foothills
undeformed rock were pushed eastward, folded, and then Main Ranges Front Ranges
thrust faulted. were pushed from the
west by enormous
13 PLAINS
The Ancestral Rockies were formed and were probably twice 18 tectonic forces within 19
as high as they are today. They were then eroded and shed 13 the Earth’s constantly
clastic sediments (sandstone and shales) into an interior sea to FORELAND BASIN
moving crust. The
the east. #3 14
rocks were first folded ush
14 P
The younger clastic rocks sit with angular unconformity on then they faulted and PRECAMBRIAN SHIELD
top of the eroded underlying carbonates. The zone of contact “Basement” were piled up, slice
CRATONIC PLATFORM
is called ‘the unconformity’. 1 upon slice, along 1
The clastics are the host to valuable deposits of oil and gas
enormous thrust faults 85 - 40 M.Y. ago. The third ‘big push’ from the west, the ‘Cordilleran Orogeny’ occurred. Thrust
including the Oilsands.
to form the present- faulting continued and the blanket of clastic sediments in the western portion of the Foreland
day Rocky Mountains. Basin were complexly thrust faulted and the Foothills were formed. More recent periods of
glaciation sculpted the present-day topography of our mountains.
During the final stages of mountain building compression “The Unconformity”
continued from the west and the Rocky Mountains were
formed comprising the Western, Main and Front Ranges, and
the Foothills. The Foothills are the only mountain belt where
FOSSIL FUELS CLASTIC ROCKS CARBONATE ROCKS OTHER ROCKS SYMBOLS

LEGEND:
oil and gas have been found.
Oil Conglomerate Limestone Salts Unconformity
Gas Sandstone Dolomite Metasedimentary Clastics Thrust Fault
What are the dynamics of a sedimentary basin and how is oil and gas formed and trapped? Water Shale & Siltstone Reef PreCambrian Crystalline Basement, Granite Formation Boundary
Coal
Over the last 570 million years, the sea level
Important rock units in the sedimentary basin. Also shown on Important oil and gas producing horizons and fields
of the Basin has risen and fallen many times. 1 - 19 photos and diagrams to designate their stratigraphic position P (e.g. Pembina Oil Field)
The Basin has also experienced: Did you know that oil and gas comes from ancient marine animals and plants?
a) Changes in the position of its shorelines
b) Drastic climate changes
Over time marine animals and plants have lived and died, then settled to the seafloor, and were
c) The changing evolution of life
d) The deposition of a variety of different rock types eventually buried and fossilized. Increasing burial, pressure and temperature converted the
HOW DID GLACIATION SHAPE OUR PRESENT-DAY LANDSCAPE?
organic material into oil and gas, which then migrated through the rock layers into porous traps Glaciers, which originally carved the sharp peaks and U-shaped valleys, have since melted and left us with
where it accumulated. The search for these traps is the job of petroleum geologists. typical glaciated terrain.
Rivers transport Highlands ajacent to
sand to the basin basin eroded by rivers

Sand accumulates
in river channels

Mountains eroded by glaciation Icecap

Do you know what a
Sedimentary Basin is?
Barrier beach bars
Caribbean-like islands

A sedimentary Basin is a
low-lying area, formally the Nunatak
Lime. coral and
shelly debris Horn-shaped Mount Assiniboine Lake of the Hanging Glaciers, BC. Note the
bed of an ancient sea, where
Coal formed Glacier Glacier u-shaped valey
from decaying layer upon layer of sediments
vegitation in marsh were deposited. Increasing Glacier
compaction, temperature
Ocean beaches
form along and pressure compressed
shorelines Coral reefs grow in 18 the soft sediments into Crevasse Field
water tropical water a variety of sedimentary
rocks (sandstones, limestone, Mountain
Delta Sands Bedrock Crevasses
shales, coals, salt, etc.).
Some sedimentary rocks
Coal Beds, source of coal bed methane gas that are rich in organic matter
Meltwater
are called ‘source rocks’.
19 17 11 They generate the oil and
Channel
Avalanche chutes in Kootenay National Park
Lateral
15 gas, which then migrates During Moraine
16 10 14 into sponge-like porous
13 12 rocks called ‘reservoir rocks’,
Ice
Ages
11 and if we are lucky, it gets Snout
1 to
9 ‘trapped’ before it escapes 2M
8 5 to the surface. It’s the illion
6 7 explorationists job to find years
these oil and gas traps.
3 4 Increasing compaction ago
2 pressure temperature

1
Do you know that our understanding of Deeply eroded Numa Gorge in Waterfalls like Takaka Falls near Field, BC
the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is Kootenay National Parks are common in glaciated valleys
Fossiliferous limestone (crinoids) Recent shallow water delta sand (unconsolidated) Do you know what caused our
based on 100 years of mapping in the Rocky
Gas accumulates in pinch-out of porous limestone (trapped by surrounding salt) Recent lime sand and coral reef debris (unconsolidated) magnificent mountain scenery?
Mountains, the Foothills and the Plains?
Shale surrounds the underlying ancient reefs and traps oil and gas Recent lime muds washed from reef (unconsolidated)
Oil and gas source rock, oil and gas migrates from shale into reef Recent black mud (unconsolidated) We are able to combine this knowledge with
During the ice ages, one to two million years
information from the drilling and analysis of some
Ancient reefs are one of our best oil and gas reservoirs and have been incredible Compacted beach sandstone ago, glacial ice advanced and retreated out of the
500,000 wells. The result is that the Western Canadian
storehouses of hydrocarbons Compacted limestone mountains and over the Plains. The mountain
Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is likely the best studied
valleys were filled with ice, and only the mountain
Salt beds caused by evaporation Shale (compacted mud) oil and gas producing area in the world.
peaks, ‘nunataks’, protruded above the thick
Dolomite (rock) formed by groundwater altering limestone (adding magnesium) Oil and gas source rock (rich in organic matter) blanket of ice. The unyielding bulldozing of
Basal sandstone (lies on top of crystalline basement) Heat and pressure convert organic matter to hydrocarbons, which overlying reservoir sandstones the advancing ice sheet sculpted and gouged
Moraine Lake and Valley of the Cirque still has a remnant glacier
Crystalline basement comprised of very old igneous rocks such as granite Oil and gas accumulate at pinch-outs of porous sandstones (trapped by surrounding shales) Ten Peaks (Cambrian Gog Sand- above waterfall and hanging the mountains and left a trail of evidence
stones) illustrate typically glaciated Valley in Yoho National Park of its unrelenting journey. The magnificent
terrain in Banff National Park mountain scenery of Banff and Jasper National
Park is the result of both the complex underlying
13 14 19
geological structure and the subsequent
12 erosion by ice and rivers. The spectacular emerald-blue color Lake Louise, Banff National Park. On a
of Moraine Lake in summer in Banff summer’s day you can hear large pieces of
National Park ice spalling off the advancing Victoria Glacier

The Rundle Group limestone quarried at the

The majestic Banff Springs Hotel is clad in
brown weathering ‘Rundle Rock’ from the
Triassic Spray River Formation
9
The Upper Hot Pools’ mineral-
rich water at the base of Sulphur
The cliffs above Grassi Lakes at Canmore
Mountain is heated at depth and
provide excellent rock climbing. The
emerges at the surface along the
handholds are often the vuggy porosity
Sulphur Mountain Thrust.
cavities in this well exposed Devonian Reef.
Burnco Quarry at Grotto Mountain is trucked Arête
Old coal cars are a reminder of the The Hoodoo pillars and ridges have to the Continental Lime Plant at Exshaw.
Horn
history of the Canmore coal basin been carved by running water and are Glacier
active between 1883 and 1979, distinctive features in mountain valleys
and the coal towns of Canmore, and in the Drumheller badlands.
12
Bankhead and Anthracite.
11
10
13
Do you know what the ‘Rocky Mountain Sandwich’ is? Geologists call the three distinctive layers
that comprise many mountains in the Front
Ranges the ‘Rocky Mountain Sandwich’. Glaciated terrain of the Bugaboo The Big Rock Glacial Erratic,
Thunderstone Quarry at Pigeon The resistant limestone cliffs comprise the Range, BC southwest of Okotoks, AB, was
Emerald Blue
Mountain where the slab-like Rundle Group on top, and of the Palliser Lakes
You can find it on Sulphur Mountain, Mount Rundle and transported by glaciers from Mount
“Rundle Rock” (Triassic Spray Formation on the bottom, and the ‘ham in
Edith Cavell near Jasper, AB
Grotto Mountain. River Formation) is quarried. the sandwich’ in the middle, is more easily
eroded Banff Formation.

Cirque
diagramatic cross section showing the mountain-building thrusts of the front ranges aerial view
3 km Hanging Valley Waterfall

SULPHUR MOUNTAIN MOUNT RUNDLE (2846M) GROTTO MOUNTAIN

SW (2451M) (2706M) NE
grassi lakes
banff traffic bow river burnco ice movement
Outwash Plain
upper Hot interchange Hoodoos Quarry
ne

Pools
ai

Steep gentle
pr

face face U-Shaped Valley

Canmore Coal basin thunder
lM

banff Springs Drumlin

Kettle Lakes
ra

Hotel Stone
19
te

bankhead Quarry
La

bow falls u p Moraine

up ro 1/2 km
ch

o g
gr le Drumlin: The streamlined drumlins at Morley, Alberta are comprised of unsorted Present
wi

le d . Avalanche Chutes
un
nd

nd 12 r m kootenay glacial gravel deposits pushed and overridden by advancing ice sheets.
ru fm
. ff . ro up 13 -day
Sa

f fm. Erratic
ff n fme g after
an up t ba
in

b m.gro us r
se m the
ta

f r lli hol
Esker
r e th 13 11 t
un

iseolm n a
P air us 14 o ice
l l i r has
a ym
Terminal
Paairh un
t f th k melted Moraine
f o le oc
ur
m . 10 nd
12 r
fm
Drumlins
h r ru up th
e t
lp ive le gro us Braided Stream
Su r rund hr
ra
y 9 11 iet
Sp l d t
ff fm
. ma r us
ban 10 lis th
ing
m. aw Complex folding and faulting and subsequent glaciation combine to form the spectacular Three
ser f grou 9
p sh
Pallriholme Ex Sisters above Canmore, Alberta
fai

ROCKY MOUNTAINS FOOTHILLS PLAINS PrE-

Cambrian
CaStlE mtn. SawbaCk rangE SulPHur mtn. mt. runDlE grotto mtn. mt. yamnuSka SHiElD

7
SW
2 12 WESTERN CANADIAN SEDIMENTARY BASIN Do you know that oil and gas is not found in NE
underground lakes or in giant caverns?
t 11 Jumping
1 hr us 10
14 6

tle t
14 13 Pound
14 10
C a s 13 12 11 10 13 13 17
Elmworth Oil and gas is found in a variety of ‘traps’ where the
12 11 10 Crossfield
st 12 11 10
Pembina
hru
producing reservoir rock is somewhat like a sponge
t u st 16 16
17 leduc
st
16
hr
with a myriad of tiny, interconnecting holes called
r g eau t r u 15 18 porosity, which are full of oil, gas. and water.
athabasca
bou h ur th t 15 15
oil Sands
Sulp us 17
dle r 14 14
th 14 J Shale
un 16 P
e st
r
a ldi ru t 15
lism h ru
s Sandstone
ing st th
arc
12
ell
Des
13 14 C
n n l
lac Co 12 E
Salts granite basement (no oil or gas)
mc
9
11 reefs
10
3 - 8

limestone & Dolomite

2

1
Stratigraphic Succession

JUMPING POUND J E ELMWORTH DEEP BASIN C CROSSFIELD PEMBINA OIL FIELD P LEDUC OIL&GAS FIELD L Fort
Chipewyan
FOOTHILLS GAS FIELD GAS FIELD GAS FIELD Discovered: 1953 (Mobil Oil) Discovered: 1947 (Imperial Oil) NE
Discovered: 1944 (Shell) Discovered: 1976 (CanHunter) Discovered: 1959 (Shell) Reservoir: Cardium Fm. Reservoir: D-2 Nisku Fm. and
Reservoir: Mississippian Reservoir: Various, primarily Calgary Reservoir: Wabamun (Cretaceous) D-3 Leduc Fm. Athabasca
Rundle Group Fahler Fm. Crossfield Fm. Reserves: 1,380 MMBO Reserves: 379 MMBO Oil Sands
gas at
Reserves: 1.3 Tcfg 1000 to 4000m beneath Reserves: 1.89 Tcfg Reserves: 1.24 Tcfg Produced: 1,240 MMBO 305 Bcfg
Produced: 377 MMBO Fort
Produced: 1.2 Tcfg Cretaceous
the Surface Produced: 1.5 Tcfg Produced: 1.0 Tcfg McMurray
rocks 419 Bcfg
D-1
N

and
tight S gas at
TIO

m. m. 2060m beneath Elmworth

an f ous rwater f e Spe
cks
veg retace Clea hit alberta group
EC

n the Surface w
u
D er C first
upp wabamun
SS

D-2
Sand
tight group
OS

banff fm.
g
CR

gas at o
3000m beneath
the Surface . s .) aw Shale 15 nisku o
o
D-3 9 w Edmonton
l er f
m is Exsh fm. w
fah (m Stettler fm. Leduc
. up
12 mississippian
lower
Cretaceous
lt
fm ro an
g on i
(wabamun)
Cardium fm. ireton fm. Pembina
n
u ev ecks
o

rocks
10 Sp g
eb

ic am r D hite
D

ass ab ppe on dw oil at o

Jur w u Sec 2875m beneath w oil and gas at
s i
s c
Crossfield fm. 1544m (D-2) and 1653m (D-3) Crossfield
tria ian
the Surface
beneath the Surface
Pe r m
SW Calgary
Canadian Shield
Jumping
© Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Interior Plains Pound
2007, all rights reserved
Foothills
www.cspg.org
Rocky Mountains